The Golden Rule
by BeBedeski
Summary: Girls are supposed to stick for each other. Hermione and Lavender dealing with each other after the break up.


**Disclaimer:** Not mine. Go figure.

**The Golden Rule**

"_Boys would be boys and it wouldn't matter if only girls would not be girls"_

_(Anne Frank)_

Hermione flew all her way up to her dormitory. She was so happy she could dance tango. With a flower between her teeth! She would probably agree to play Explosive Snap in the middle of Charms and right now, the Half-Blood Prince sounded like a lovely person. A whole hoard of Dementors wouldn't stand a chance against her state of spirit. Closing her eyes, she could still hear Ron's words echoing in her mind, dangerously making suggestions that she would gladly take. The way her body went numb when he gently sat with her in one of the Common Room's couch and told her, in a whisper, he finally was a free man. He had a wolfish grin in his face and although his ears were blushing, Hermione couldn't help but notice how secure his moves were.

On the other hand, Hermione herself wasn't feeling so safe about it. With a startle, she muttered something about going to the library and stormed out of the room. Ron's gaze fallowed her and even though she didn't have eyes on the back of her body, the girl was absolutely sure he had a pleased expression on his face. Needless to say, all books seemed hideously unimportant and as she passed the Fat Lady portrait, heading to her bed, she couldn't help but notice Ron smiling at her. For her. Totally conscious of it. Hermione flinched and then realized that she had no idea how much of a girly girl she was.

Ron drives Hermione out of her mind and he makes her forget about everything. Obvious things. When she turned the knob and opened the door of the Girl's Dormitory, she found herself staring at a scene she should have previewed. But instead of dealing with reality, in the past minutes she was too busy thinking about red-haired boy and sweet promises.

"You!" Lavender screamed accusingly.

Hermione closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breathe. Reality always strikes back.

"What are you doing here?" The blonde girl demanded, as if she was throwing a challenge at Hermione.

"I sleep here. This is my room as well." Hermione replied back.

Lavender looked as someone who was trying to think about something good to snap back. Hermione was getting annoyed by the whole confrontation. She had all rights to be there; and most of all, she didn't do anything to her hysterical roommate. Last time she checked, she wasn't the one who was being a show-off about the boy the other fancied for ages. But then, she looked at Lavender's swollen red eyes. The girl was sitting in Parvati's bed; her hair was completely messed up. She glanced at Parvati's direction and the Indian girl gave her a distressed stare. Hermione's heart broke into a million pieces. She had been in Lavender's shoes, and Ron was the one to blame as well. Hermione had seen Lavender crying before; when her grandmother died, when Parvati's parents wanted to take their daughters away from Hogwarts, when that Ravenclaw guy turned her down. But she had never felt guilty about it.

"I'm sorry about your breakup, Lavender." She simply said. And she meant it. But Lavender didn't think that was enough. She got up on her feet and Parvarti seemed startled at her reaction. Parvarti was livid, Lavender was furious, Hermione was tense.

"How dare you!" Lavender said in a low whisper. Hermione was expecting her to scream, but her tone of voice just proved how much hurt she was. "You're such a liar! Everybody knows you wanted Ron and me to be over!"

It was true. It was obvious. The whole school knew, including Ron and especially Lavender, the name of the guy Hermione fancied. It was like it was written in her forehead, and like Harry's scar leaded people to figure out who he was; one could easily look at Hermione and announce her The-Girl-Who-Loved-Ron-Weasley. She could get offended at Lavender's accusations or Parvati's way of looking at her. She should be the one to feel betrayed because both girls were very much aware of her feelings for Ron and it didn't stop one of them to offer herself to him. She also had the option of just ignoring. Hermione was the girl on top, she could control the situation. It was clear that Ron had chosen her over Lavender. She was now not only the most intelligent and the best student, but also, she felt like she was more beautiful, more fanciable than Lavender. In other words, she had won.

But instead of feeling like she had just got a medal, she felt jealous of Lavender. Hermione could be better than her, but it didn't change anything. She was Ron's first girlfriend, his first lover. She had been the one who first kissed his lips and it was her whom he shared with the sweet, empty promises of teenager's infatuation. She had been the first one who he had ever told was pretty and the first nipples he had ever seen belonged to Lavender. Hermione knew that she was facing the girl who had first felt Ron's erection against her tights. The same person who got her elbows gently massaged as a way of apologizing when Ron bitted her neck too fiercely. While Hermione was sending infuriated canaries at Ron, Lavender got good-night kisses.

Hermione could not forgive Lavender for that. She would never let any of these go.

And then, it suddenly hit her why. Young Hermione Granger spent most of the time around books. In the bathroom, while other kids listened to pop music, she heard stories about heroes and princesses told by a deep voice. During recess she used to sit in a wooden bench near the play ground and read, in the background children's screams and laughs were heard. She ate lunch in the library because at least there she was sure of the comfort of friends who liked her for who she was and when she faced the words all lined-up it seemed like they were smiling. Mr. and Mrs. Granger never worried much about her daughter at school; the girl was in the top of everything! But when Hermione told her grandpa about how she was the only one who liked Mark Twain's books, he replied by saying that she was special. One day, a little while before Hermione had turned eleven she discovered that her grandfather was right; she was a witch. When she headed to her new school, sharing kisses and bear hugs of goodbye with her family, she was sure she was going to have a lot of friends, a lot of people to talk to.

Truth been told, Wizard's subjects were _much_ more interesting than Muggle's, but despite of that, the girls at her dormitory didn't seem much like her at all; they were just like the others. They giggled and they wore pink clothes. They didn't bother to accept Hermione's books when she offered them to be lent and they talked about her huge hair and teeth in nasty ways. Lavender once told her that her shoes were just like her grandmother's, and although Hermione first thought it was a nice thing to say, the way Parvati started to laugh showed her that this was no compliment. Harry and Ron weren't friendly towards her in the beginning too; but she forgave them for all the horrible things they said about her being a know-it-all. Even though she was really hurt when Ron called her a nightmare and even more that time he acted like she was_ not _a girl, she just tried to forget about these episodes. She could even start again with Draco Malfoy, but not with her roommates. Simply because they broke off one Hermione's golden rules: girls are supposed to stick for each other. And they were mean, almost evil to her, when all the while she just wanted a friend.

Staring at the way Parvati held Lavender's hand and the angry expression on her face, because she blamed on Hermione her best fiend's tears, made the smartest girl in Hogwarts want to cry. She had Ron and Harry, and they were really good friends. But boys get uncomfortable when subjects like love, kissing and boys come up. She had Ginny, and even Luna, but it wasn't the same either. Hermione got the boy, but Lavender got the girlfriend. At that moment, she would trade Ron for Parvati without hesitation.

Memories of the two girls asking about Viktor and Harry came to her mind. She always refused to answer any of them. Once, Parvati sat at her bed and told her she should act upon Ron, because he really fancied her back. As a reply, Hermione closed her bed's curtains. She knew she would never be friends with them, especially with Lavender, not after her snogging sessions with Ron. But this cold war had got to end. And because she knows she was better than them, and she felt confident because Ron knew this as well, she was the one to throw the white flag.

"You're right Lavender." She said in a sweet but firm tone of voice. "I wanted you two to break up. I really did. But this is about Ron, not you. I would want him to get rid of any girl, really, because I think I should be the one with him."

Lavender didn't move and taking this as a good sign, Hermione carefully headed to sit on Parvati's bed.

"I think you're nice, I do, I swear. I didn't want her to be you. Ron really was a prat."

The other girl just stared at her for a while but then she started to mumble something under her tears. Fallowing Parvati's example, Hermione started to stroke her hair as well.

"I really thought he liked me…I mean, I knew it was you all along, but he just seemed interested, you know…" Hermione held herself back when she felt the urge to comment on male's behavior. "Harry had asked me to go to the Yule Ball with him, but I was already going with Seamus…But I figured may be he had a thing for me. I mean, that was before the whole Viktor Krum fight, but this year…Ron _is _good looking, you know…Of course you know!" Lavender smiled sadly and Hermione imitated her. "I just figured I was imagining things with you two, I mean, it had been two years and…nothing!"

"I asked him to go with me to that stupid party Slughorn was throwing." Hermione said without thinking.

"You did? Merlin!" Parvati said, surprised. Lavender herself looked bitter.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know…" The blonde girl said sheepishly.

"I should have told you…" Hermione replied.

Their eyes met and they shared an agreement. Girls were supposed to stick for each other. May be if she shared with Lavender some of her secrets, none of this would have happened. A quote she once read popped into her mind_: "keep your friends close, and your enemies closer". _She sighed because this was not about it. This was about her golden rule and her distant childhood dreams of best friends and girl's accomplice. It was also about compassion, forgiveness, redemption. It was about Hermione trying to fix her broken heart.

"Look Lav…" She said, saying the girl's nickname the first time out loud. "I know a charm that fixes swollen eyes. You'll wake up brand as new tomorrow! You know, don't give Ronald the pleasure…."

"I guess it would be…nice. You could teach me some beauty spells…" Lavender suggested smiling.

Hermione nodded and felt happy. Not the same happiness she was feeling some minutes ago, she wasn't excited or amazed. She felt great because she was building something good, on the verge of a War. May be they could never be friends. But for sure, they could respect each other and never break the golden rule again. They had competed and hurt each other. Now was time for them to accept one another.

Hermione was rising to get a Spell Book but Lavender didn't let her do so. She grabbed her right arm and then linked her hands with affection. She looked tired and really sad, but Hermione knew that whole dating thing meant more for her than it ever did for Ron or Lavender. The boy was just interested in kisses and snogs, and as long the girl was cute, he would go for it. The girl liked Ron, but for shallow reasons, and soon she would be with another guy. But Hermione, even though she knew it was meaningless and it would soon go away, felt like dying when she saw the two of them together. She did, a little bit.

"I hate Ron Weasley." Lavender announced. But what she was really trying to say was: _"I'm sorry I don't love you."_

"I hate Ronald Weasley, too" Hermione said back. And she knew that she loved him, although it couldn't have been truer.

"Good." Parvati told them. "Let's found a club, then. But I gotta say I _totally_ am the president."

And they all laughed.

**Author's Note: **I hope you enjoyed it. I got inspired by Almodover's new movie: _"Volver"._ It rocks and the way he treats women's relationships set a light on me. Like always, reviews are more than welcome, they're needed.


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